


Such is Life

by cytheriafalas



Series: Angels/Demons [1]
Category: Beast - Fandom, Big Bang - Fandom, DBSK|Tohoshinki|TVXQ, SHINee, SNSD, Super Junior, f(x)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-06
Updated: 2013-07-06
Packaged: 2017-12-17 21:33:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/872185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cytheriafalas/pseuds/cytheriafalas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prequel to No Man is Wholly Bad Nor Wholly Good. I suggest you read that first, because things will just make a lot more sense that way, as this is the female demon that Onew mentions. Onew, Seungri, GD, Seunghyun (TOP), Gikwang, Taeyon, Sunny, Yunho, Luna, and Kyuhyun capture a demon, but she ends up being more than they can handle. Beta'ed by who gets the honor of fixing all my dumb mistakes and catching the ones I hadn't even realized I'd made. And who gives me title ideas, so I don't post things under the working titles, because dear lord.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Such is Life

He woke to screams. It wasn’t a single voice screaming, but a chorus of them, rising and falling.

And then silence.

“Up,” Seungri said, tossing clothes at him. He was already half dressed, pulling his shirt over his head. “Something’s happening.”

Onew accepted the clothes, pulling them on as quickly as he could. He glanced around the room, looking for the person who belonged on the third bed. “Where’s Jiyong?”

“He’s supposed to be on guard with Gikwang. Hurry _up_.”

Onew pulled his shirt on and slipped his feet into the shoes at the foot of the bed. He nodded to Seungri, who pulled the door open. The deep red light he had gathered along his arms vanished, fizzing out. He stopped so quickly Onew nearly ran into his back.

“I found him.”

“What?”

Seungri stepped into the hallway and knelt down. He fell slowly enough that Onew could almost believe his knees had given out, until he saw what Seungri was looking at. Nausea roiled through his stomach. It took him a full second to even identify the shape, first as a human body and then as Jiyong. He pressed the back of his hand to his mouth, clamping his jaw shut and looking away, as though that would make the scene in front of him disappear.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” Onew looked back. Seungri’s hands were clenched in Jiyong’s blood-stained shirt.

“We need to keep moving,” Onew said. He didn’t know how Seungri could keep looking. Jiyong was covered in so much blood Onew didn’t even know how all of it could have belonged to one person, but it was all the ivory blood of their kind. “We can come back for him, but we need to go.”

“He trained me,” Seungri protested. “He can’t be--”

“He is,” Onew said, tugging at Seungri’s arm. “And everyone else will be too, if we don’t help them.”

That seemed to be enough to pull Seungri to his feet, the light cascading back down his arms. He wiped the blood off his hands as best he could, sprinting down the hallway. Onew followed him, with one last glance back at Jiyong. He wondered, briefly, what Jiyong had been doing before he died, if he had been running away or if he had been running to them.

They stopped twice, once to identify a splash of blood as Gikwang’s, although they didn’t see him anywhere. The second time, Seungri slipped in a pool of blood that had dripped down the wall, drawing Onew’s eyes upward. This time he very nearly did vomit, stumbling back and into the other wall.

“Taeyeon?” Onew looked to Seungri for confirmation. Even he looked sick, nodding once. “Is she missing an…”

Seungri took his arm. “Don’t look. Just… Let’s keep going.”

The path the others had taken was obvious, splashes of white and black blood, cracks in the walls, windows shattered. They passed by Jaejoong without stopping, lying in his own blood, his throat gashed open. Onew had to look away again. He didn’t know how Seungri did it. Probably because with Jiyong’s death, he’d already seen the worst.

The closer they got to their training room, where they could hear crackles of power and see the occasional flare of light, the more blood there was. Somebody, at least one and probably more, was hurt badly. Seungri shoved open the door with his shoulder, simultaneously sending flashes of light toward the demon pinned in the corner.

She was smiling, her long dark hair flowing in the air currents stirred up by the light flung at her. Her smile faded when Seungri and Onew appeared in the room, but she didn’t falter.

Gikwang was fighting with one arm, the other useless at his side. Onew thought he could see the white bone beneath the wound. Luna was slumped against the wall near the door on the other side of the room, at least unconscious, but probably dead. Seunghyun was standing over Kyuhyun, dripping blood from a bad cut along one side. Kyuhyun was still alive, but barely. Even as Seungri threw his first attack, Seunghyun dropped to his knees, just managing to catch himself on a hand before he collapsed completely.

Onew stepped forward, defending Seunghyun and Kyuhyun and reinforcing Sunny’s shield. She gave him a brief nod of thanks. He didn’t see how they could win now, with two of their best fighters dead and a third immobile on the floor.

Sunny’s hands were flicking through forms faster than Onew could follow, but he could see that the yellow light was fading, only visible from her elbows to her fingertips. She was wavering on her feet, breathing hard.

“Sunny, you need to step back,” Seungri said.

She shook her head. Onew had to admire her tenacity, even if it was going to get her killed. “She killed Taeyeon.”

“And she killed Jiyong and Jaejoong. Step back. Onew’s got it.”

She pursed her lips, but otherwise ignored him. Her hands moved faster to compensate for the weakening light. The demon was watching her, countering Seungri and Gikwang’s attacks almost casually. Onew could tell the demon was tiring, but all she needed was a moment of weakness and they wouldn’t stand a chance.

The shield flickered, held, flickered again, and then vanished. Onew scrambled to recreate it, but before he could finish, a flare of dark purple light seared his vision and sent Sunny flying backwards. In the afterimage, he saw her small form hit the floor hard and lie still. He didn’t think she would get up again.

“I’m not strong enough to hold this by myself for long,” Onew warned Seungri.

A pale thread of blue light twined with Onew’s green light, solidifying the shield. More red light flowed past him, nipping at the demon’s shield. For the first time since they had entered the room, Onew saw her shield flicker, a spark of Gikwang’s orange light breaking through.

Kyuhyun and Seunghyun appeared in his peripheral vision, their arms wrapped around each other. He wasn’t sure which one of them was holding the other up. Kyuhyun was barely standing, his stores of power nearly depleted, but offering what he had left to Onew and the shield. Seunghyun clothes were stained with so much ivory blood that Onew wasn’t even sure how he was still breathing, much less conscious.

Onew heard a sharp cry from Gikwang. He fell, purple light tearing open a hole in his chest. Seungri flinched back but didn’t lose ground, moving closer to Onew, Kyuhyun, and Seunghyun.

“Kyuhyun?” Seungri asked, nodding toward the demon.

“She’s almost empty,” Kyuhyun confirmed, his eyes focusing just beneath the demon’s skin. His voice was so soft that Onew had to repeat it for Seungri to hear.

“You think you’re up for it, Seunghyun?” Seungri asked.

Seunghyun nodded, even if Onew could see that it was pure determination keeping him on his feet.

As abruptly as it started, the blue light vanished and Kyuhyun slipped from Seunghyun’s hands, dropping to the floor. His eyes were still open, but Onew could see nothing behind them. Seunghyun staggered, but caught himself on one of the pillars. He braced his shoulder against it, leaving his arms free.

Onew didn’t know what they were doing, but he could feel the power crackling in the room. It made his skin prickle uncomfortably and his ears ring. Every instinct in his body screamed danger, for him to get out. It seemed to have the same effect in the demon. She straightened, her eyes widening.

“If this doesn’t work,” Seungri said to Onew, “you need to run.”

“It’ll work,” Seunghyun said, his hands already flashing through a series of gestures that Onew had never even seen. “When I say, drop the shield.”

The pressure in the room built. The windows cracked, sending slivers of glass flying, fluttering about in the air. It wasn’t until the first flecks of the ceiling began raining down that he felt the order come. He couldn’t hear Seunghyun’s voice, but he felt it. He dropped the shield and two columns of red raced into the corner, the first shattering the demon’s shield and the second hitting her in the stomach, the light engulfing her. Onew didn’t wait to see her fall, turning in time to see Seunghyun crumple to the floor.

He hurried to his side, his hand seeking out the injury. Seunghyun pushed his hand away. “Leave it.”

“You’ll die if we don’t do something.”

“I’ll die anyway. It’s not worth it. Is she dead?” He directed the question at  Seungri, who nodded his confirmation.

“Good,” Seunghyun said with a bitter laugh. “Then she only killed eight of us.”

“We underestimated her,” Seungri said.

“You two won’t make that mistake again. Now,” Seunghyun hissed in pain, trying to shift himself into a sitting position against the pillar. Seungri helped him, grimacing at the fresh blood that spilled onto the floor. “I’m going to have to ask you a favor.”

Seungri shook his head. “No. I’m not--”

“I’d do it for you.”

“You can’t ask this. I already have to bury Jiyong.”

“You have to bury me anyway.” Onew could see the pain on Seunghyun’s face, his lips white where he’d bitten them. “Seungri, please.”

Seungri turned away, his eyes closed. He was shaking.

“I’ll do it,” Onew said, resting his hand on Seungri’s shoulder. “Go. Make the call.”

“Don’t. Onew, please don’t.”

“This is the only way we can help him now.”

Seungri took a deep, shuddering breath and knelt beside Seunghyun, taking his hand. Seunghyun latched on, holding tight enough that his knuckles turned white. He was just as afraid as the rest of them, which was not a comfort to the man about to become his murderer.

“Do it,” Seungri whispered.

Onew knelt at his other side, taking Seunghyun’s head in his hands. He let his light trickle down into his palms, seeking out the exact point in Seunghyun’s neck. Once he found it, he paused and looked down at Seunghyun. “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” Seunghyun said, closing his eyes and letting his head fall sideways onto Seungri’s shoulder.

“You can sleep now,” Onew murmured. He took a deep breath and let his light twist. Seunghyun’s body went limp.

They sat there for a few seconds, Seungri lost in his grief. He would bury two of his closest friends today, but Onew had already buried himself somewhere between failing to save seven of his friends and killing the eighth. He eased Seunghyun’s head back against the pillar.

He rocked back onto his heels, expecting to feel something, but he was cold. He was sad, in some abstract way, but none of the sorrow that he’d felt even ten minutes earlier, looking at the bodies scattered around them.

Onew fished his cell phone out of his pocket and hit speed-dial one. He heard the click of someone picking up.

“Yes?”

“We have a cleanup.”

“Where?”

“The compound.”

“How many bodies?”

“Nine.”

“We’ll send Heechul. It’ll be done in an hour.”

There wasn’t even a hesitation at the number of dead. The phone clicked off and Onew took Seungri’s arm. “We need to go.”

Seungri nodded, climbing to his feet. They were both covered in blood, but there wasn’t much they could do about that. Most people would probably think it was some strange phosphorescent paint anyway.

They walked in silence for miles. Seungri’s face had gone blank, lost in horrifying grief and shock. Onew was waiting for that same loss to kick in, but it never came. His ears and fingers went numb from the cold. The muscles that had been tensed throughout the fight loosened, leaving him stiff and sore.

Onew didn’t even know how far they walked, but an hour later they found themselves back at the front gate of the compound. It looked peaceful and silent, the broken windows replaced, not even a sparkle of shattered glass in the lawn.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Seungri said.

Onew stopped, a hand on the gate, prepared to swing it open. He turned back. Seungri had stopped a few steps away, his hands shoved in the pockets of the jacket he’d grabbed before they’d left. Onew thought it might have been Jiyong’s. He supposed it was Seungri’s now.

“Why?”

“Why?” Seungri echoed. “Because every single person I know has just been slaughtered. Because I’ve got nothing left there. Because I have buried enough of my friends. Why would you stay?”

“Where would you go?”

“Anywhere but here,” Seungri said, kicking a stone toward the door. It fell far short, landing with an unsatisfying _clunk_. “Come with me. Let them start over without us.”

Onew shook his head. “I don’t think I know how to do anything else.”

“You can learn.”

“I don’t think I can,” Onew said. “I’ll see you around, Seungri. If we live long enough, maybe we’ll run into each other.”

He turned and walked back into the compound. The walls would already be bleached, there would be fresh paint everywhere that couldn’t be cleaned, the clothes would be gone. In a few days there would be new people living here and he would start over again.


End file.
